Marcus Forss's return to action after a lengthy injury could be perfectly timed for Middlesbrough
The welcome return to action of Marcus Forss is another shot in the arm for Middlesbrough’s top six prospects.
The hot competition for places which should be generated by the likes of comeback men Forss, Rav van den Berg, Dael Fry and Riley McGree, can only lead to positive results. By the time that Boro entertain Bristol City after the international break, all of these players will have enjoyed stress-free additional training time to build up their fitness.
After all, there is not too much to be worried about following the effort put in by the Boro at Watford. For the most part, Boro controlled the game. As long as the collective self-belief has not been slightly dented by the late setbacks, they have built the foundations for an upward spiral.
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The bonus from Forss’ return is that the Finn can operate comfortably either on the right or through the middle. The current battle for the right-hand spot between Ben Doak and Isaiah Jones suggests that Michael Carrick may look at potential attacking roles for Forss, no doubt initially when coming off the bench.
Another positive is that Forss is arguably one of the best finishers at the club. He comes back at a time when Boro are still trying to turn excellent build-up play into goals. Forss scored seven goals last season despite suffering from injuries, while he reached double figures with ten goals in the previous campaign.
In this respect, if Emmanuel Latte Lath continues to wait to get back into goalscoring gear, then Forss might have an even bigger role to play than might be imagined. At the moment there shouldn’t be too many worries about Latte Lath because he is looking lively.
You would imagine that his next goal could lead to a goalscoring streak. Yet we never would have thought that we would reach the middle of October with Latte Lath still awaiting his first goal in open play.
The get-out clause for Carrick is that he now has Forss and Delano Burgzorg as alternatives, plus Tommy Conway once the Scot is fit again. It is these options which will hopefully keep everybody on their toes and encourage them to reach higher levels of individual performance.
The anticipated competition on the left is already emerging with Carrick handing Micah Hamilton a starting place against Watford. We have yet to see the best of Hamilton but giving him as much pitch time as possible can only boost his confidence.
Naturally, Burgzorg, Riley McGree and possibly Finn Azaz are among those who provide the competition in this position. In addition, we’ve finally got options at the back again, with Matt Clarke on the bench at Watford.
It’s hard to believe that Clarke can be left out following his heroics of the last seven or eight months but then the team as a whole can only benefit from such hot competition. Van den Berg still probably needs a couple of games to return to top gear, while last-minute signing George Edmundson has done nothing wrong and it would be a little unfair if he was edged out at this stage.
The next three games will have a major bearing on whether Boro edge their way into the top six or merely stay in contention. Bogey team Bristol City are followed to the Riverside by high-flying Sheffield United, while Boro then head off to tackle revitalised Norwich City.
No doubt Boro’s competition for places will help to keep everybody fresh for such an important stage of the season. And, hopefully, all the club’s internationals will return at the end of next week in one piece.